Therapeutic applications include treating hydrocephaly by draining cerebrospinal fluid contained in ventricles within the skull cavity to some other site for resorption.
European patent EP-B1-0 688 575 in the name of the present Applicant discloses such a valve, including a rotor provided with a curved spring blade fixed thereover, the spring blade pressing against a ball to hold it against an inlet orifice of the valve so as to regulate the passage of fluid through said inlet orifice. Turning the rotor from one angular indexing position to another causes the point of contact of the ball on the spring blade to slide, and thus varies the stress exerted by the spring blade on the ball. The rotor can be locked and unlocked by mutual attraction and/or repulsion of micromagnets placed on the rotor.